Swinging-tray conveyer



June 19, 1934 J. F. sAvELl. Er AL SWINGING TRAY CONVEYER Filed April 2o, 1955 Patented June 19, 1934 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SWINGING-TRAY CONVEYER Jacob F. Savell and Harry Feige, Saginaw, Mich., assignors to Baker Perkins Company, Inc., Saginaw, Mich., a corporation of New York Application April 20, 1933, Serial No. 666,963 4 Claims. (Cl. 198-158) This invention pertains to chain conveyer sysgaps we insure more even baking and better heat tems of the swinging tray type wherein` trays are control in bake ovens employing swinging tray pivotally suspended between two parallel chains, conveyers, and in ovens, proofers and other conand in which the principal runs or nights are veyers of this kind We effect a substantial reduchorizontal. vIt relates more particularly to a tion in the overall length of a conveyer having 6 novel sprocket structure employed at the end of a given number of trays, or conversely, make a conveyer ight where the travelof the conveyer possible the addition of trays to a conveyer of is changed and the trays pass into another flight a given length. above or below that just traversed. The invention consists primarily of a novel 6 10 In conveyers of the type referred to, two sprocksprocket in combination with a conveyer chain of 5 ets, one for each of the parallel conveyer chains, a swinging tray conveyer having horizontal runs. are lxed to a 1rnslersebaxle shacft. Hlrltofore The spriorcket helils a plutrlaliti;1 of pintle pockets to circu ar sproc e s ave een use eac aving receive ose ro ers of e c ain which carry the four pintle pockets spaced apart circumferentially tray pintles, the periphery of the pockets being- These circular sprockets imposed certain undeout away between successive pintle pockets so sirable limitations upon the dimensions of the that the peripheral distance between them is less trays and their spacing from each other. These than the distance along the arc of the pitch circle limitations have necessitated relatively wide gaps of the pintle pockets. between the edges of adjacent trays in the hori- The shortened peripheral sections between the zontal runs. In all conveyers of this type these pintle pockets may be attened arcs, or they may '7 gaps require an overall length out of proportion be straight, and may have teeth to engage Vthe to the dimensions of the trays and the capacity chain, or may be toothless and smooth. of the conveyer. With the foregoing and certain other objects in In bake ovens in particular these gaps permitted view, which will appear later in the speciication,

hot gases from the bottom of the oven to iiow our invention comprises the devices described and between the trays, which resulted in excessive claimed and. the equivalents thereof. browning of the loaf surfaces adjacent to the tray In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one edges. In addition this ow of hot gas between embodiment of our improved sprocket as it is the trays has prevented the precise control of the employed in a bake oven conveyer of the single top and bottom heat desired for baking certain lap type wherein the swinging tray conveyer travkind of goods. els through two horizontal flights, or runs.

Since the edges of the trays must clear the Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations showing alsprocket shaft as they pass around the sprockets, ternative forms of the novel sprocket. the maximum permissible Width of a tray equals In Fig. 1, numeral 1 designates the baking the pitch diameter of the sprocket, less the diamchamber in which is installed a conveyer coneter of the shaft, and less a small clearance marsisting of chains 2 (one of which is shown) travgin. When Jrllly Circular Sprockets were used, eling on horizontal tracks 3. The tray pintles the length of the circumferential arc between or rollers 4 carry the pivotally suspended trays two consecutive pintle pockets, and hence the 5, of known type. An axle shaft 6 extending clain klength etwtn t tray pnles Was ltll; transversely acrolsls the oven carries sprocket 7 si era y grea er an e maximum ray wi for the conveyer c ain, as determined by the limitations noted above. The Sprocket 7 has four pintle pockets 8, which 'IhelefOIey With hOI'ZOntal 1 uns the gaps between receive the pintles 4 of the conveyer chain. The trays were wider than was required for operating arcuate peripheral section 9 (indicated by the de arances and tlfeytcluld not be ritucied by wld' broken line) of the sprocket between two pinenmg the trays or reasons s e tle pockets is ilatter than the corresponding arc It has long been desired in tray ovens of this of the circle determined by the pintle pockets. kind to reduce as much as possible the gaps be- A d. 1 th th, f th ha. 1 t tween successive trays, in order to overcome the ccor mg y e p3' o e c m fa' ong a' dimculty tened arc 9 between the successive pintle pock- 105 It is an object of the present invention by a ets 8 is shorter than the corresponding distance simple change in design of the conveyer sprockets, alOllIld the periphery of a circular sprocket of to minimize the gaps between trays and without equal radluS at the Dlntle Dockets. Thus the iminterfering with the free passage of the trays proved sprocket permits the use of shorter lengths i5 around the sprocket shaft. By thus reducing the of chain between adjacent trays, and the gaps 110 between the trays 5 on the horizontal tracks 3 are minimized. The sprocket 7, like the circular sprockets previously used, limits the maximum width of the trays 5 to substantially the diameter of the sprocket minus the diameter of the shaft 6 and minus the clearance necessary to allow free passage of the trays around the shaft. Using the improved sprockets, flattened between pintle pockets as described, the width of the gaps between successive trays in horizontal runs needs be only twice theV clearance C required between the edge of a tray 5 and the sprocket shaft 6. Fig. 2 shows a sprocket 17 made according to the invention which has three pintle pockets 18 spaced one hundred twenty degrees apart. The

sprocket s toothed similarly to that shown in Fig. l, with pockets between the teeth to receive the rollers of the chain 2 intermediate the tray pintles 4.

In the forms illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 we have shown the llattened sprocket periphery slightly curved between successivepintle pockets 8, in order to accommodate the links of certain standard chains available in the market. It

is within the scope of the invention as claimed to have these peripheral sections straight instead of curved.

Fig. 3 illustrates an vembodiment of the last named form of the invention. A five-sided sprocket 27 having ve pintle pockets 28 carries the conveyer chain 2. The peripheral sections 29 of the sprocket between the pintle pockets are toothless and flat so that the chain on the sprocket between the pintles lies in substantially a straight line. The peripheral section 29 may also be slightly concave or recessed with respect to the pintle pockets 28 so that only the pintles will engage the sprocket. Such variationsin Y sprocket form are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Leters Patent is:

1. In a chain conveyer system of the swingingtray type which carries the trays through horlzontal flights, a chain sprocket having a plurality of pintle pockets, and having those parts of its periphery between successive pockets flattened so` that the path between them assumed by the chain is shorter than the corresponding path along the pitch circle of the pintle-pockets.

2. In a bake-oven conveyer systemhaving a pair of parallel chains carrying swinging trays between them through horizontal ights, chain sprockets spaced apart on a horizontal axle shaft and having each a plurality of pintle-pockets, the periphery of each sprocket between successive pintle pockets being shorter than the corresponding arc of the pitch circle of the pintle-pockets, whereby short lengths of chain between successive trays may be employed and the width of the gaps between the edges of successive trays in the horizontal flights is minimized.

3. In traveling chain conveyers carrying swinging trays through horizontal ights, a chain sprocket having four pintle pockets spaced .about` its circumference and having its periphery flattened between said pintle pockets to permit the use of lengths of chain between adjacent trays shorter than the distance between pockets along the pitch circle ofthe pintle pockets whereby the width of the gaps between the edges of successive trays in the horizontal flights is minimized.

4. In a chain conveyer system of the swinging-tray type, in combination, a chain having tray pintles located at non-adjacent pivots,one or more pivots which do not carry trays between the consecutive pintles, and a chain sprocket therefor having a plurality of pintle pockets and having flattened chain-supporting peripheral portions between successive pintle pockets, whereby the lengths of chain between successive tray pintles may be shorter than the arcuate path along the pitch circle of said pintle pockets.

JACOB F. SAVELL. HARRY FEIGE. 

